Final Fantasy VII stats

There are three groups of stats: points, primary stats and derived stats. Only points and derived stats apply to enemies while party members use primary stats to determine their derived stats. These stats are separated in the menu, but the groups are unnamed.

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Accruing Experience Points allows party members to level up, enhancing their other stats. Experience Points are acquired from battles, but party members must not be flagged defeated at the end of battle to receive it (thus they cannot be petrified or KO'ed). Exp is earned from battles that have a battle results screen, and thus battles at the Battle Square earn no Exp. Equipping the EXP Plus Materia boosts the amount of EXP earned from battles.

This is a comparison of table of how much Exp is needed to achieve the given level.

The LV, or level, improves almost all of the units' attributes. In addition to determining stat growth, it improves physical damage, magical damage, chance to hit with magical attacks, chance to land critical hits, chance to steal, and the chance to manipulate. LV is also an important factor in many Enemy Skills.

HP is the unit's health. At 0 HP a party member is knocked out. A variable amount of HP is gained by leveling up. HP can be boosted by equipping the HP Plus Materia. Equipping Magic and Summon Materia lowers the party member's HP and Strength, but they gain MP and Magic Power in return.

MP determines how many spells a character can cast. Enemies' MP can be reduced using Magic Hammer or Barret'sMindblow Limit. MP can be restored with items and MP Absorb Materia attached to any ability. Turbo MP raises its linked Materia's MP cost in exchange for empowering them. Red XIII's and Cid's ultimate weapons deal more damage the closer to maximum their MP is.

Primary stats are mostly used to determine the derived stats, which are mostly used in damage calculations to determine battle outcomes, damages and resistances. Dexterity and Luck are notable exceptions, as they are frequently used in battle calculations. Determined stats are typically determined by levels and stat boost items, though certain pieces of equipment can also add boosts.

Dexterity is used in many calculations. It affects the Active Time Battle timer, which fills up faster for characters with higher Dexterity. A quarter of the Dexterity stat, plus the bonus from the equipped armor, determines the Defense% stat. A quarter of the Dexterity stat, plus the equipped weapon, determines the Attack% stat.

Unlike other primary stats, Luck does not determine an externally derived stat directly, but is an important feature in many calculations. It affects the chances of attacks hitting or missing from allies or enemies, and for attacks to be critical hits.

It does not feature directly in evade or hit calculations, but rather determines whether one of three things can occur: a "Lucky Hit" (100% chance to hit a target with a standard physical attack), a "Lucky Evade" (100% chance to evade an evadable attack) or a "critical hit" (double damage). These are calculated by comparing the attacker's Luck stat with that of the target. The chance of landing a Lucky Hit is based on a quarter of the attacker's Luck stat; a Lucky Evade is determined by a quarter of the target's Luck stat minus a quarter of that of the attacker. A critical hit is calculated by the Luck stat added to the attacker's LV minus the target's LV, and then quartered.

Derived stats refer to the character stats determined by primary stats. These stats, along with two of the primary stats (Dexterity and Luck), are what end up in battle calculations. On enemies, as they do not have primary stats or equipment, these are pre-determined.

Attack determines the strength of a physical attack. On party members, this is determined by the weapon boost and Strength stat. The formula for base damage dealt by a physical attack is determined as follows:

This is then altered by the ability power (if a magic, enemy or Command Materia attack) and reduced by the Defense, among other things. If the attack is a normal physical attack, the power value is treated as "1" and does not affect the base damage.

Attack% determines the chance that an attack will hit, and on party members is derived from the Dexterity and equipment. This stat applies not just to units, but also to individual enemies, as non-attack abilities have their own Attack% stat. An attacker with 255 Attack% does not necessarily hit, as Attack% is only one stat that is used in the calculation determining the chance of a hit:

Defense reduces damage taken from physical attacks. On party members, it is determined by armor and the Vitality stat. At 256 Defense, the damage taken will be half the damage taken at 0 Defense. It is one of the many things which determines the reduction of base damage determined by Attack:

Defense% determines the chance that an attack will miss, and on party members is derived from the Dexterity and equipment. This stat only applies to units. It is used to reduce Attack% and comes later in the calculation:

Magic atk is the equivalent of Attack for magical attacks, and features in the formula determining damage from magical attacks alongside the ability's own ability power and the attackers' LV. On party members, it is determined by equipment and the Magic stat.

For example, Knights of the Round'sUltimate End attack has a power of 80, so it would do 5x base damage per hit. Linking an All Materia to single target Magic Materia (such as Fire Materia) incurs a 1/3rd damage penalty, but attacks that originally hit all enemies (such as all summons and spells like Ultima) will not incur a damage penalty.